1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scintillator which emits light when radiation is applied thereto, and a radiation detector using the scintillator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner used in clinical practice or the like, X-rays which pass through a subject are received by a scintillator, and light emitted from the scintillator is detected by photodetectors. The detectors are arranged as a two-dimensional array, and the scintillator is partitioned by partition walls so that crosstalk S between light beams are not caused. It is desired that the partition walls be formed as thin as possible because the partition walls do not contribute to the X-ray detection but degrade the spatial resolution. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-145335, multiple scintillator crystals are joined to one another with an adhesive to form a scintillator array 70, the adhesive is etched out thereafter, and a gap formed by the etching is filled with titanium oxide powder as a partition wall material (FIG. 7). It is disclosed that, in this case, the thickness of partition walls 71 may be reduced as small as about 1 μm.
However, the partitions walls 71 disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-145335 may be formed so as to be thin, but cannot be eliminated. Further, the manufacturing step takes a lot of time and effort, including cutting of the scintillator and joining of the scintillator crystals for forming the partition walls.